Mucking around in the Dirt Blog Mike Corbishley

Reflection: One of the things that I experienced this week was taking pictures of soil erosion around campus. I did not realize how much erosion was all around us! We saw rills and sediment that had run off all over the place. This experience really taught me how much we really need to start taking control of erosion and doing more.

Citation for Picture: "Types of Erosion." 19 Nov 2009 . 
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/robert.fuller/370%20Files/Weeks11Erosion/rill.jpg
Another thing that I learned this week was that on constuction sites the water runoff must be kept under 50 NTU. We learned how to test the turbidity of the water using the turbidimeter the day after we did the lab where you try to get your water to come out of the soil box the cleanest. In the lab, our group, the cheaters, won the contest and our turbidity level was at 56 NTU. But, the construction workers are able to keep their sediment runoff clean by using filters, silt fences, coir, and big, black, ridged pipe.
This is a video of sediment control failures on a construction site.

Citation for Video: "Shenandoah Riverkeeper visits Accotink Creek." FriendsofAccotink. 19 Nov 2009 . 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_pp0vjoROs/
 Last but not least, and my favorite topic we learned about this week, the affection of trout. This week I learned that sediment runoff to streams in the mountains has to be less then 10 NTU. If it is not then trouts' gills are actually clogged up by the sediment and can suffocate. If it is not less then 10 NTU then it can also break trout eggs which will decrease the trout population. Here is a picture of how clean trout water must be:

Picture Citation: Vivien , Bullen. "How Trout Fishing Works." How Stuff Works. 19 Nov 2009 .
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/river-trout-fishing-1.jpg
Questions: What are the regulations for streams in Italy? Does the turbidity still have to be under 10 NTU?

What exactly does the turbidimeter do to take turbidity levels? How does it come up with a number?

What if your house actually slid because of erosion. Is there some sort of insurance to prevent having to pay for all the damages made such as broken pipes etc. under the house?


Vocabulary:


Soil Erosion- The movement of soil


Rill- A small rivulet or brook

Gully- A brook or small valley

Detachment- The invading of water (rain, river etc.) on soil detaching it from the ground.

Transport- After detachment, when the soil or sediment is carried down a stream of water to a basin or other soil.